October Newsbrief: YU Direct Offers High School Applicants Path to Graduate School; YU Placed 90th in U.S. News 2027 Ranking; Rabbi Dov Lerner Appointed Chair of Rebecca Ivry Jewish Studies Department
YU Direct Offers High School Applicants Path to Graduate School
On October 5, Yeshiva University announced the launch of YU Direct, a program that grants students admission to YU graduate schools when they are admitted to a YU undergraduate program. Admissions through YU Direct are available to high school students applying for YU this admissions cycle.
YU Pathways, Yeshiva University’s previous bachelor-master’s joint program, will continue to operate for students currently enrolled as undergraduates, according to the announcement from the October issue of the View From YU. YU Direct is only for students applying from high school.
Participation in the YU Direct programs will be conditioned on academic success in YU, which can include maintaining a certain GPA, completing prerequisites, participating in labs and attending events. Participating graduate schools include almost all of Yeshiva University’s graduate programs, including Cardozo School of Law, Albert Einstein School of Medicine and master's programs like MBA, Nursing, Jewish Studies and MS degrees.
According to the View From YU, “The initiative is designed to help students plan ahead and build a long-term academic and professional future within the University.”
“I think it could be a good program for students in high school who know exactly what they want to do professionally,” Aiden Melkin (YC ‘28) told the Commentator. “At the same time, I do fear that it might put unnecessary pressure on high schoolers to have their career figured out.”
YU Placed 90th in U.S. News 2027 Ranking
Yeshiva University was tied for 90th place in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best National Universities Rankings, a dip from an 84th-place tie last year.
YU remained the #2-ranked university for its enrollment size, behind California Tech, and was 8th among universities with fewer than 5,000 undergraduate students. It also placed #4 for New York City universities and was tied for #48 among private schools. Nationally, it was tied at 90th with Baylor, Gonzaga, Marquette and Texas Christian University.
The top-ranked national university was MIT, while Princeton came in second and Harvard in third.
For its rankings, U.S. News & World Report collects data from surveys submitted by universities as well as U.S. government agencies and analytics company Elsevier. National universities are ranked using “17 academic quality factors” that include “graduation rates,” “first-year retention rates,” “peer assessment,” “earnings by major” and “citations per publication,” U.S. News says.
“In the most competitive higher-education market in the world, Yeshiva University stands among a remarkably small group of institutions recognized in the national Top 100,” Elad Granot, dean of the undergraduate Sy Syms School of Business, wrote on LinkedIn. “But what makes me especially proud is how we are doing it.”
“Under the leadership of Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, Yeshiva University has demonstrated that academic ambition and Jewish identity are not competing priorities,” he noted. “They strengthen one another.”
Rabbi Dov Lerner Appointed Chair of Rebecca Ivry Jewish Studies Department
Rabbi Dov Lerner was appointed chair of the women’s Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies at the start of the fall 2026 semester.
Lerner has served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at YU’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought and is the rabbi of Young Israel of Jamaica Estates. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English literature at YU, semikha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and a Master’s degree in religion and PhD in the History of Judaism from the University of Chicago. He was a rabbinic intern at Lincoln Square Synagogue and was a Tikvah Fellow. In Chicago, Lerner was the Orthodox Student Advisor at UChicago Hillel and the assistant rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S. in West Rogers Park.
At the Straus Center, Lerner is interested in Jewish thought and intellectual history and has taught courses on Maimonides, Dante, John Milton, Malbim and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. This semester, he is teaching “Topics in Jewish Philosophy: Modern Messianism” on the Beren Campus, a Straus Center course.
In addition to department chair, Lerner was also appointed Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Stern College.
“Rabbi Dr. Lerner brings a rare combination of scholarly rigor, rabbinic leadership and educational excellence,” Provost Selma Botman wrote in the fall 2026 provost newsletter. “His deep engagement with both Jewish texts and Western thought, combined with his commitment to students and colleagues, will serve the department and the University exceptionally well.”
Photo Caption: Rabbi Dov Lerner; n/a; n/a
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University; U.S. News & World Report / Wikimedia Commons; Yeshiva University
